Pilot study about the micro hydropower generation by use of flow induced vibration phenomenon

National Defence Academy of Japan, Department of Mechanical Engineering, 1-10-20 Hashirimizu, Yokosuka 239-8686, Japan

^* Corresponding author: yokoi@nda.ac.jp

Published online: 4 June 2018

Abstract

In order to construct a micro power generation system using a piezo-electric element, power generation was tried using excitation oscillation of the bluff cylinder by the vortex shedding from the bluff cylinder. The bluff cylinder consists of a board spring section in which the piezo-electric element was attached, and a body section. The bluff cylinder was inserted into the water flow, the shape and the submersion depth of the bluff cylinder, and the flow velocity were varied, and the power generation characteristic was investigated. As a result, it was found that it can generate electricity by vortex excitation. It was found that the length and the submersion depth of the body section influence power generation. It was shown that the power generation characteristic changes with cross-sectional shape of the bluff cylinder. The most suitable state was the case where the submersion depth was set to 140 mm with a circular cylinder with a span length of 250 mm. It is important to choose the power generation object which suited the use purpose.